Clamour for Gautam Adani's arrest after indictment in U.S. court

Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded Gautam Adani's immediate arrest after the reports that the business tycoon has been indicted by a court in the United States

Thursday November 21, 2024 3:26 PM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded Gautam Adani's immediate arrest after the reports that the business tycoon has been indicted by a court in the United States.

Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded Gautam Adani's immediate after the reports that the business tycoon has been indicted by a court in the United States.

While demanding Adani’s arrest, Rahul Gandhi also accused PM Modi of protecting the business tycoon.

“Chief ministers’ get arrested for allegations of few hundred crore rupees. But, Adani is roaming free even after facing charges of over 2000 crore rupees”, Rahul said while addressing the media Thursday.

“Adani should be arrested now and today”, he said.

Charges against Adani

Gautam Adani has been charged with fraud in the US, which has accused him of orchestrating a $250m (£198m) bribery scheme and concealing it to raise money in the US.

The criminal charges, filed on Wednesday in New York, are the latest blow to 62-year-old Mr Adani, one of India's richest men, whose business empire extends from ports and airports to renewable energy.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged the tycoon and other senior executives had agreed to the payments to Indian officials to win contracts for his renewable energy company expected to yield more than $2bn in profits over 20 years, according to BBC.

Adani Group shares plunge

Meanwhile, Adani group stocks faced heavy drubbing during the morning trade on Thursday, with the combined market valuation of all the listed firms getting eroded by Rs 2.45 lakh crore after the reports that Adani bribed to Indian government officials to win solar energy and power contracts, according to PTI.

The stock of the group’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises plunged 22.99 per cent, Adani Ports dived 20 per cent, Adani Energy Solutions tanked 20 per cent, Adani Green Energy plummeted 19.53 per cent and Adani Total Gas tumbled 18.14 per cent on the BSE.

Shares of Adani Power slumped 17.79 per cent, Ambuja Cements cracked 17.59 per cent, ACC fell 14.54 per cent, NDTV dropped 14.37 per cent and Adani Wilmar declined 10 per cent.

"Baseless"

The Adani Group rejected as baseless the move by the US department to name the group in a case of alleged wrongdoing.

The group asserted that these were mere allegations and must be seen only as that.

"The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied," the Adani Group said in a statement, emphasising it has steadfastly maintained the highest possible standards of governance and transparency.

The group has also decided to examine a legal course of action.

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